Sugar isn’t inherently bad.
Fruit contains sugar. Milk contains sugar. Honey and maple syrup contain sugar. And enjoying a piece of birthday cake doesn’t undo your health goals.
But added sugar is incredibly easy to overconsume, especially when it shows up in foods we don’t necessarily think of as “sweets.” And when we’re accustomed to everything tasting intensely sweet, cutting back can feel surprisingly difficult.
So instead of declaring war on sugar, let’s talk about what added sugar actually is, what the research tells us, and how we can learn to enjoy sweetness without feeling controlled by it.
What Are Added Sugars?
Added sugars are sugars added to foods or beverages during processing, preparation, or at the table.
They’re different from the sugars naturally present in foods such as fruit and plain dairy products. Those foods also provide nutrients such as fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Added sugars can show up in obvious places:
- Soda and sweetened drinks
- Cookies, cakes, and candy
- Ice cream and desserts
But they’re also found in foods you might not immediately think of as sweet:
- Yogurt
- Granola and protein bars
- Breakfast cereals
- Coffee creamers
- Sauces and salad dressings
- Breads and packaged foods
And don’t let a healthier-sounding name fool you.
Cane sugar, agave, honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, brown rice syrup, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, molasses, and ingredients ending in “-ose,” such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, can all contribute added sugar.
Some may be less processed or contain trace amounts of nutrients, but they still count toward your overall added-sugar intake.
How Much Added Sugar Is Too Much?
The American Heart Association recommends keeping added sugars below about 6% of daily calories.
That works out to approximately:
- Women: no more than 25 grams, or 6 teaspoons, per day
- Men: no more than 36 grams, or 9 teaspoons, per day
For children and teens ages 2–18, the AHA recommends no more than about 25 grams, or 6 teaspoons, per day. Its pediatric guidance recommends avoiding added sugars for children under age 2.
Other public-health recommendations use percentages of total calories rather than one fixed gram amount, which is a good reminder that there isn’t one magical number everyone has to hit perfectly.
The goal isn’t perfection.
It’s awareness.
For perspective, a single 12-ounce regular soda can contain about 10 teaspoons, or more than 40 grams, of added sugar.
The Reality of Sugar Consumption
Americans are still consuming considerably more added sugar than recommended.
Current CDC data show that U.S. adults average about 17 teaspoons of added sugar per day. Men average about 19 teaspoons and women about 15.
Sugar-sweetened beverages remain one of the largest sources of added sugar in the American diet, followed by desserts and sweet snacks.
Why Does Added Sugar Matter for Weight Loss?
Added sugar isn’t uniquely capable of making you gain weight. Ultimately, consistently consuming more energy than your body needs can lead to weight gain.
But foods and drinks high in added sugar can make that surprisingly easy.
They’re often calorie-dense while providing relatively little protein, fiber, or lasting fullness. Sugar-sweetened beverages are an especially good example: you can consume hundreds of calories without experiencing the fullness you might get from eating those calories as whole foods.
Reducing added sugar can make room for foods that offer more nutrition and satisfaction—protein, fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats.
And the benefits go beyond the scale.
Consuming too much added sugar is associated with health concerns including weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Why Can Sugar Feel So Hard to Stop Eating?
Have you ever eaten something sweet and immediately wanted another?
You’re not imagining it.
Sweet foods engage the brain’s reward system, and our eating habits can become strongly connected to stress, boredom, celebrations, routines, and emotions.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re clinically “addicted to sugar.”
But it does mean that simply telling yourself to have more willpower probably isn’t the best solution.
Instead, pay attention to your patterns.
Do you crave sweets every afternoon because lunch didn’t contain enough protein?
Do you reach for something sugary when you’re exhausted?
Is dessert something you genuinely enjoy—or something you eat automatically every night?
Understanding why you’re reaching for something is often much more useful than labeling the food as “bad.”
But What About Artificial Sweeteners?
This is where things get interesting.
Sugar substitutes can reduce calories and added sugar. The FDA currently considers approved sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin safe for the general population when used under their approved conditions and within established intake limits.
That doesn’t necessarily mean replacing every sugary food with an artificially sweetened version is the best long-term strategy.
In 2023, the World Health Organization recommended against relying on non-sugar sweeteners as a long-term strategy for controlling body weight. Its review found no clear long-term benefit for reducing body fat and identified associations between long-term use and some health outcomes that deserve further study.
Importantly, WHO also noted that those associations may be influenced by other characteristics of the people using the sweeteners, so this guidance doesn’t mean approved sweeteners have suddenly been proven dangerous.
In other words, the answer probably isn’t:
Sugar = bad. Sugar-free = good.
A better goal may be learning to enjoy foods that simply aren’t as sweet.
What About Stevia and Monk Fruit?
Stevia and monk fruit are derived from plants, which is why they’re often marketed as “natural” alternatives.
That doesn’t automatically mean unlimited amounts are beneficial—or necessary.
They can certainly have a place in someone’s diet, especially if using them helps reduce a high intake of added sugar. But ultimately, I don’t want the goal to be finding the perfect substitute so everything can continue tasting intensely sweet.
I’d rather help you slowly retrain your palate so you need less sweetness in the first place.
New Research Raises Questions About Xylitol
There’s another category of sugar substitutes worth talking about: sugar alcohols, also called polyols. These include xylitol and erythritol.
Sugar alcohols are different from non-sugar sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or stevia. Xylitol occurs naturally in very small amounts in the body and in some foods, but substantially larger amounts can be added to products such as sugar-free gum, candies, baked goods, beverages, and other reduced-sugar products.
In August 2026, researchers presented new findings at the European Society of Cardiology Congress involving more than 17,000 participants from Canada and Europe.
Researchers found that people with the highest levels of xylitol circulating in their blood had a greater risk of major cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke, than people with lower levels.
In the Canadian group, the highest xylitol levels were associated with a 57% higher risk of major cardiovascular events. In the European group, the association was an 18% higher risk.
But there’s an extremely important word there:
Associated.
The study was observational. It cannot prove that consuming xylitol caused those heart attacks or strokes.
However, this isn’t the first research to raise questions about xylitol.
A 2024 study published in the European Heart Journal also found an association between higher circulating xylitol levels and cardiovascular risk. In laboratory and human experiments, researchers found that xylitol increased platelet responsiveness and measures related to blood clot formation.
And xylitol isn’t the only sugar alcohol being studied.
Research published in Nature Medicine in 2023 found that higher erythritol levels were associated with an increased risk of major cardiovascular events. Researchers also found evidence that erythritol increased platelet reactivity and thrombosis in experimental models.
That doesn’t mean we currently have proof that eating foods containing xylitol or erythritol causes heart attacks.
Even the FDA, when reviewing the erythritol research, noted that the observational findings did not establish a causal link.
So does this mean you need to panic and throw away everything containing xylitol or erythritol?
No.
It means we’re continuing to learn.
And it reinforces something I believe more and more strongly:
We don’t need to replace one extreme with another.
If we’re eating enormous amounts of added sugar, replacing all of it with enormous amounts of sugar substitutes may not be the answer either.
So…What Should You Eat?
This is where nutrition gets much less exciting—and much more sustainable.
Eat mostly real, minimally processed foods.
Build meals around:
- Protein
- Vegetables and fruit
- Fiber-rich carbohydrates
- Healthy fats
- Water and other mostly unsweetened beverages
And yes, you can still have sugar.
Have the birthday cake.
Enjoy ice cream with your kids.
Put some maple syrup on your pancakes.
Drizzle honey into your Greek yogurt if that’s what makes you enjoy it.
You don’t have to fear sugar to become more intentional about it.
What About Honey?
I love that Scripture actually gives us a beautiful picture of moderation:
“If you find honey, eat just enough—too much of it, and you will vomit.”
— Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)
Notice what it doesn’t say.
Don’t eat the honey.
It says eat just enough.
Later in the same chapter we read:
“It is not good to eat too much honey…”
— Proverbs 25:27 (NIV)
Thousands of years before nutrition labels and macro tracking, we were given a pretty practical lesson: Something can be good—and still not be good in unlimited amounts.
You Don’t Need a Sugar Detox
If you’ve been eating a lot of added sugar, you don’t need to punish yourself, swear off dessert forever, or start another Monday morning “detox.”
Start smaller.
Look at where most of your added sugar is coming from.
Maybe you reduce the sweetener in your coffee.
Maybe you choose plain Greek yogurt and add berries and a little honey yourself.
Maybe you swap one soda each day for water.
Maybe you pair something sweet with protein instead of trying desperately not to eat it.
Maybe you stop automatically assuming something labeled “keto,” “diet,” or “sugar-free” is a healthier choice.
One choice at a time.
Breaking Free Doesn’t Mean Never Eating Sugar Again
There was a time when I thought healthy eating meant finding the “right” foods and avoiding the “wrong” ones.
The more I’ve learned, the more I believe health looks much less dramatic than that.
It’s learning.
It’s paying attention.
It’s nourishing your body well most of the time.
It’s enjoying something simply because it tastes good without believing you’ve failed afterward.
And it’s remembering that taking care of your body doesn’t require perfection.
It requires stewardship, grace, and consistency.
You don’t have to fear sugar.
You don’t have to fear artificial sweeteners.
And you certainly don’t need another restrictive set of food rules.
You can simply begin becoming more aware of what you’re eating, choosing whole foods more often, enjoying sweetness intentionally, and allowing your taste buds—and your habits—to change over time.
That’s a much quieter kind of freedom.
And it’s one you can actually keep.
Sources & Further Reading
- American Heart Association. “How Much Sugar Is Too Much?” Updated May 14, 2026. Current recommendations for added-sugar intake, common sources of added sugar, and Nutrition Facts label guidance.
- American Heart Association. “Added Sugars and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Children.” Guidance recommending no more than 25 grams of added sugar per day for children and adolescents ages 2–18 and no added sugars for children under age 2.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Get the Facts: Added Sugars.” Updated April 29, 2026. Current U.S. added-sugar consumption data and health information.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Aspartame and Other Sweeteners in Food.” Current FDA information on approved high-intensity sweeteners and sugar alcohols, including aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, stevia-derived sweeteners, erythritol, and xylitol.
- World Health Organization. Use of Non-Sugar Sweeteners: WHO Guideline. 2023. Guidance on the use of non-sugar sweeteners for long-term weight control and reducing risk of noncommunicable disease.
- European Society of Cardiology. “Xylitol May Increase the Risk of Cardiovascular Events.” August 26, 2026. Findings presented at ESC Congress 2026 examining circulating xylitol and long-term cardiovascular-event risk.
- Witkowski M, et al. “Xylitol Is Prothrombotic and Associated With Cardiovascular Risk.” European Heart Journal. 2024;45(27):2439–2452.
- Witkowski M, et al. “The Artificial Sweetener Erythritol and Cardiovascular Event Risk.” Nature Medicine. 2023;29:710–718.